007 Wedding

We had our friends wedding today. James Bond and his wife-Liu Hui. They actually got married over Chinese New Year, but this was the more formal ceremony. He has been a good friend of ours for a couple of years now. He wanted our family to be a part of the ceremony, so Selah did the flower girl thing (the other girl in the picture is another friends daughter, Hannah) and Malachi the ring bearer role. Brad gave a short speech. Here's us pre-wedding.



Last night was the rehearsal and dinner. Normally there's not a rehearsal, but they wanted a more Western wedding, so rehearse we did. We went to the hotel and in the front lobby was a tank full of HUGE toads. The kids loved it. They sat and laughed and watched the unsuspecting frogs swim gleefully around their tank. After spending some time admiring the huge frogs, (enter gloomy-on-your-way-to-your-death music) there appeared two shadows from above the tank. What were these two shadows?! Nothing less than nets. And why nets you ask (or at least the frogs asked), well, because dinner needed to be served. So two of the frogs were whisked away. The kids were asked to follow them into the kitchen to watch, but mom intervened. I'll have no frog cooking nightmares on my watch.




We told James that we didn't want to know which dish the frogs were in, but I think it was diced and served with cabbage. And we had already told our friends the foreigner rice trick. The rice trick is that when you go to formal banquets you always save some rice in your bowl to hide the strange dishes that are served. Promptly stuffed to the bottom of the bowl and everyone saves face. So he was watching us. But we got everything down and the meal was actually wonderful. Both at this meal and the wedding meal we got to have octopus, duck, shrimp, and some great spicy dishes.




All was well and we had a great time with our friends and their families.

...and with a joyful heart

Our kids know how to answer the question, “How do we obey?” The answer is “Right away, all the way, and with a joyful heart” We’ve gone through various Scriptures with them about each part of this answer.

This morning I read a horrific chapter in Deuteronomy 28, where God lists in detail some of the gruesome curses that he would send upon Israel if they disobeyed. What is noteworthy however is 28:47, which gives reason for God’s punishment, “Because you did no serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart….”

This is not only applicable for parenting, but in our being His children. Why do we take less seriously his commands to rejoice and delight than we do other commands? Piper says it well, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Whether we murder, glutton ourselves on food, or have thankless hearts, our sin proclaims to the world that he is NOT our delight? Today, rejoice…again I say rejoice.

Children's Day Festivites!

So June 1st was Children's Day in China. Although it seems as if everyday is Children's day here. But nonetheless we embarked upon quite the Children's Day festivities. I won't go into graphic details because the pictures will fill in the gaps. The weeks preceding Children's day were filled with endless practicing and preparation. No performance is small, that's for sure. Selah had what I thought was a practice on Monday night. Well, come to find out it was a HUGE performance in front of hundreds of people. She was accompanied by roller bladers, models, singers, dancers, the works! We had no idea what was happening. We ran through the rain and were soaked. So by the time we showed up for "practice", we were exhausted. The night was fun, but late and exhausting.

Enter Children's day on the 1st. We get to the kindergarten at 7 am sharp. No time for breakfast at school, because it's time to get dolled up. Here's Selah, post make-up session:



And yes, here's Malachi, post his time in the chair:





So the kids loaded up on a bus to head to the performance hall. There we were met by parents and school officials who had found the same fate in their battle with the eyeshadow. The teachers dressed up in several outfits and did multiple performances. Each was followed by a speech given by 4 and 5 year old announcers.

Each class had a different dance. Here's one that I think was about recycling and how happy the earth would be if we would all recycle. During it, I'm thinking, "let's just start with throwing your trash in a trash can and not the ground", but I guess they have the right to be visionaries. Here they are dressed in coke cans-I think they are the bad guys!



And now come our kids. Malachi is all but enthused the entire time. He is dreading his performance and now you can see why:



His class striped down to their underwear and put on flowered, clear garbage sacks. The sacks were accessorized by a dazzling arrangement of fluffy plastic placed oh so gentily on their ankles, wrists and head. Needless to say, Malachi was not excited. If you know our son, you can understand why. This is the face he made the ENTIRE performance as they danced around acting like babies-i think that's what they were at least.





Selah's class did an Olympic theme and she represented water sports. She loved the whole thing! On Monday's performance, they interviewed her and she spoke Chinese and just loved the whole deal. She was in her element, for sure.



The kids were great sports. And now we have some great rehersal dinner material for Malachi's wedding.

Malachi and School

Praise the Lord! Thanks for your prayers.

 

We’re seeing progress as Malachi has not cried for 2 straight mornings. We’ve allowed him to take his children’s Bible to school to read and he has enjoyed that. He told us that he was brave because he knew (realized?) that we would come back for him after lunch. Why it took him 4 weeks to observe that pattern is beyond us. (We have always come immediately after he eats every day.)

A New Excuse for Language Incompetence

My Chinese teacher today asked me to answer some questions in Chinese characters today up on the blackboard.  Well, my characters are VERY limited.  So I told her I couldn’t and she shook her head and said “oh ya, you are fat and tired, you cannot go do the work.”  I shook my head “yes, yes that is it.”  It has nothing to do with the fact that you’re writing in an impossible language, it’s just that I’m fat and tired.  I’m gonna use that excuse all the time now! 

 

 

 

 

Malachi's take on pregnancy

Malachi told me the other day that Kesed (that's the name of the baby boy I'm now pregnant with) is "workin' my blood." I asked him seveal times to repeat and he consistently told me that "he's workin' your blood mommy."

More Insights into the Culture through Language

Another insight into the culture through language (we find these interesting)—

 

Whereas we would say “We went to the movie last night”, they would say [literally translated], “We last night went to the movies.”

For them, it’s not so much what you do that is important, but how you do it. Consequently, the modifying phrase—the adverbial phrase modifying the verb—is emphasized with the words order.

 

For those of you who like this stuff and are grammar geeks, here’s one more. Let’s say you have the sentence, “I threw the ball to Ryan”. “Ryan” is the indirect object, meaning it’s the thing that is affected by the verb’s action.

But in typical Chinese grammar, you’d say, “I to Ryan threw the ball.” Again, in Chinese culture, the main point is not what you did, but WHO was affected.  

 

How fitting that the grammar reveals the priority of the culture—the emphasis is on how we do something and who is affected. Sounds like an emphasis we all should consider more…

 

Interesting Article

We found an interesting article on the effect of the Internet on Chinese high school students. It's just a brief survey, but interesting nonetheless.

Here's the link: China Kids

Learning a Culture Through Language

We had a cool cultural nugget through the language yesterday. Bare with the details....

The word "qian" means "ahead, in front of". However, so say "2 years ago", you say "[2 years] qian". To us, it sounds like we are saying the opposite of its meaning. Likewise, "hou" means "behind, in back of", but when you say "2 years into the future", you say "hou [year]". Again, it sounds like you are saying the opposite of the words' meaning.

Except for one cultural, philosophical part of their worldview. The Chinese are emphatically past-centered. Americans are overwhelmingly future driven...we are always thnking of what's ahead. Thus, we tend to thnk of time linearly--as if on a line--where the past is behind us and the future is ahead of us. With the Chinese, however, they are always looking at the past. Thus, the past {i.e. 2 years ago} has happened and is thus before or in front of their attention. The future is not yet and so it is unseen or hidden. 2 years into the future is "behind them" in the respect that they are not able to see it now.

Very logical if you come at it from a different set of assumptions....

Duck Feet, yum

We got to have lunch with some friends today. It was a really fancy Sichuan meal that a Korean family wanted to introduce us to. We soon found out why when we were asked to teach her son English. Gotta love the strings attached events in this culture. But we said no and enjoyed the meal anyway. The most exotic of dishes we had this time was duck feet. They tasted...well...just like gnawing on a duck's foot that stepped in a little soy sauce. But it was fun to have some really great spicey food. Then we went over to the Korean family's home to let the kids play. For those of you who remember, this is the Korean boy that Selah gave the bloody nose to the last time we were here. The other family were some friends from our last time here too.






This is just a fun picture of my sweet Charis Mei.

First Week of Class

After the May holiday, classes began in full effect for both Brad and I. We started class on Tuesday and had a test on Wednesday. The class has already been in session for a few months and it's total immersion. I think Intimidating would be a good word to use here. We have one teacher who keeps harping on us because we cannot read the characters. We just laugh and remind ourselves of the reality of language learning.

We can tell we're improving, just slowly. There are two Russian girls in our class that feed us help when we are looking desperate. They both have good English.

We also found a helper to watch Charis while I'm in class. She seems really great, but this morning was really hard. I cried for a good part of the morning. It's a HUGE faith leap for me to leave my child with a strange woman whom we cannot understand. We have different customs, language, philosophies and habits and off she goes with my youngest child. Charis seemed happy when we picked her up. She came home with a new outfit because the helper assumed she was cold. Those who are familiar with China will not be surprised at this.

We'll update more next week....all in all, it was a good week.

Just in case...

So our oldest thinks of things we don't and it's cool to see her mind work.

We had a local guy come in to help clean the apartment and Selah rushed to clean her own room to help him out, but the part I liked best was that she left a page purposely lying out from her favorite book so that he would see it just in case (she said) he didn't know the Story already.

Then when some other friends were leaving our apartment, she interupted their leaving and asked, "Can we stop and pray for them?" We then got in a circle and she indeed prayed.

Cool girl.

Unconditional Love

Have you ever really considered whether this is possible? If we're honest, most people agree that relationships have some sort of conditionality, but is this correct?

By "unconditional" love, I mean a love that does not distinguish people due to individual distinctness (personality, ethnicity, intelligence...) and that does not truly aim at selfish, privateusage of the other person. Pure love should be universal and mutually joy producing.

How might this actually happen though?

Micah 7:18 has been a profound verse for us in the past months, "Who is a God like you who...delights in steadfast love." The way we love unconditionally is by delighting in such a love. When this kind of love brings us joy or delight, then the love is not conditioned on the object of our affection---we simply get a kick of living, regardless of who gets to benefit. IS this not how our Lord sustains His love--whether Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, male, female..... He delights in the glory of His own nature. When share in that same joy--displaying and depending on His glorious nature--then our love with be unconditional and without end!

James Bond and Family

We got to spend the day and evening with our friend James Bond and his new wife. She is from the same city that we had the wedding, so we stopped by to say hello. Her family was so gracious to us. We made dumplings together and had a great time. They were really jealous of our ability as Americans to have more than one child. We get that often. After the looks of "are you crazy?!", next comes the words of jealousy. Their one child policy is harder than we could imagine on some families who want lots of kids.

Re-Posting of 1st day of school/apt. pictures

There was a glitch in the Blogging Matrix with our blog titled "First day of School/New Apartment. So we reposted the pictures.

Wedding Details

We made it!! I'll give you a brief run down of our time in Tangshan for the wedding. I wish there was a stronger word for exhausted because i would use it here. It was great, but wow, we're tired.

We got the blessing of having most of our section of the train to ourselves. This was a much needed reprieve from the chaos of traveling. This was Charis' first train ride post-womb.




It took us about 3 hours on the train. We met up with our friends at 7 pm. And for those of you with small kids know that everything after 7 is bad news. It's about an hour and a half to her small town. But we had yet to eat dinner and knew that there would be family obligations with our friends. So off to a "famous" restaraunt where we met up with both her and her fiance's families/ Of course no English. By the time we ate, it was about 8:30. We finish up dinner with no huge cultural mishaps and head to her house. It's now about 9:30 and the kids are starting to melt. They have held together nicely so far, but we know we're pushing our luck. After all the introductions and niceties, we head to the room where we sleep. It's about 10:30 now and we're wiped. We all pee in a plastic bowl placed in our room so that we don't have to use the outhouse. And then we hope onto a platform that we'll call bed for the night.

Here's our bed:



I"ll try and keep the rest short. We wake up early and eat bean curd soup and fried dough. And then we wait for everything to begin. We are well taken care of by the family and the town got a kick out of our clan. We felt very honored because we got to sit with the family during part of the traditional parts of the wedding. The fiance has to give the dowry to the brother and he continues to ask for more money. They then look for her shoes hidden around the room. After that, we are introduced and eat a snack with the families. We felt very honored.









We loaded in the car and headed to the restaraunt for the "Western" part of the wedding. They set off tons of fireworks and spray them with silly string.










Now Malachi and Selah act as ring bearer and flower girl. But nobody has any idea what that means, so I, Carrie, am at the back trying to herd cats. Nobody knows who is going where and this is all happenng amongst a crowded restaraunt. But we made it. Brad delivered his message among much noise. And then we ate. And man did we eat.



It was a beautiful wedding. The bride changed three time into beautiful gowns. And then they both toasted every table there. By the end things got funny as we watched the drunkenness level rise. We are hoping for some seeds to have been sown as we spent time with our friends and with their families. It was a blessing to get an inside look at their lives and their families.

Intercultural Exchange

The other day Selah wanted to bring her favorite Book to school, however, we were a little hesitant, not wanting to cause undo cultural offense, since they wold not be familiar with all our commonly loved Stories. Well, we said ok, but only when the other kids were napping.

After school, she informed us that she read it to her teachers with all the kids around. "What did you read them?" we asked.
She answered that she told them about dieing and arising! Well, at least she gets right to the point of life huh?
She then said, "Yeah, my principal was there too."

Let the cultural exchanges begin!:)

Wedding Bells

Today we will leave for a wedding of a good friend. She lives about 2 hours from our home. So we'll load up on the train and trek across the plains of China to attend. She wanted a Western style wedding, with Selah as the flower girl, Malachi as the ring bearer, Brad will be giving a message as the host and Carrie will be the photographer.

We don't know exactly what we're walking into, so stay tuned to our next post as I can guarentee you it will be interesting.

We'll be staying at her home because the only hotel in her town is under construction and we were told it isn't safe there. I have stayed with her family before and they were wonderful hosts. But that was one person....now I am bringing a husband and three small kids. The kids will get to use the outhouse and sleep all in one bed. Like I said, stay tuned for details!

First day of School/New Apartment

Here's Malachi on his first day of school. He was all smiles until we actually got inside. He's still having a hard time, but it's much better. The first day I asked him "did you play with any friends?" He replied "no." I asked "why not?!" And he proceeded to tell me that he "didn't want to, I love me!"





Charis is helping us get organized in our new apartment! We are still getting settled, but here's a sneak peak at it so far. We're on the first floor and have really enjoyed it. We get tons of ahhhs and oohhhs at the number of children we have, but it's fun.






This view above is as if you walked in our door and are walking down the hallway. Living room on the left and dining/kitchen on the right.





This is our dining room/homeschooling area.



This is the bathroom/laundry room. Things are very efficient here. I've always loved the bathroom/laundry room concept!





We've got more, but by this time we realize that the apt. pictures are a little boring. So we added one with the kids. That's really the only pictures people want to see anyhow :)




This last one is the living room. We feel like we're finally getting settled. I, Carrie, was able to actually cook a Western meal for the family. Hamburgers!! We have a May holiday coming up where we will attend a friends wedding. Selah and Malachi will be in it, but we are not really sure what that will mean. We'll let you know!

Random musings

1) We just exchanged some text messages with a national friend; we asked him if he could help us on Saturday morning make a purchase (we need translating). He replied, "I would like to help but I have a wedding to go to in the morning. Maybe I can go to the wedding before lunch"

huh? How do you decided when you'll go to a wedding?

2) Why do dogs greet each other my smelling each other's rear and run in circles?

a challenge to pride and encouragement to faith

"We think we are thinking outside the box only because we can't see how big the box really is."

--Daniel Gilbert, "Stumbling on Happiness"

We have a home!

We got an apartment!

3 bedrooms, great size in a growing part of town, a bath tub, a bedei (sp?), furnished, 2 bathrooms with western toilets, 1st floor (but with some stairs, which is a good thing actually), even basement for storage, near a KFC for special treats, a 5 minute taxi from campus, maybe 5-10 from downtown, 20 minute bus ride to either, a kindergarten nearby, an elementary school next door, a children's playground (which are rare here; most are old person's parks). On top of that, our landlord has pretty decent english.

We had two very good national friends help us negotiate. We think we got a fair price.

We may be out of touch via Internet for a few days. We'll see. We have more to share about the kids' first day at school.

Great Hospital Signs

If you are squirmish about anatomical vocabulary, then cease reading. We just couldn't help but post this.

The other day we took the kids to the dr. for a check up needed for the pre-school. The English signs here never get old and there were quite a few funny ones in this hospital. They attempt to translate their signs into English and more times than not it just doesn't work.

These were all found on a sign inside, directing you to a particular hallway in the hospital. Here’s a few we remember simply for your entertainment:



Analyse the room with blood



Vagina Mirror Inspection Room



Mammory Gland Mammography



Neck Pain of the Palace



Women’s Anus Intestine Room



And all of these took place in the “Inferior Medical Health Center”

luggage apologetics

We got our luggage this morning!!! We had one bag left in the States and the two others were taken by an Arizona woman by accident. Well, this morning they arrived at our hotel! We decided that this is a great apologetic because there has to be a higher power in order for us to be able to get our luggage this quick. Amazing.

luggage apologetics

We got our luggage this morning!!! We had one bag left in the States and the two others were taken by an Arizona woman by accident. Well, this morning they arrived at our hotel! We decided that this is a great apologetic because there has to be a higher power in order for us to be able to get our luggage this quick. Amazing.

We’ve arrived already and we have plenty of material for the blog.

We took off at 7:30 from Houston and went to San Francisco and headed to Bejing around lunch time Our flight was delayed, but all was well. Charis slept for about 2 hours of the entire day of traveling. She was an absolute mess the entire trip. We flew with friends of ours that also have three small kids, so we were quite the crew.


Already, Malachi has asked me, “How many sleeps until we get to China?” I said, “We are in China”. He replied, “No, we’re far away” Then he added, “…then where are the panda bears?”

Already, Selah almost drank water from an ashtray.

Already, three of our 16 check-ins are MIA.

Already the fun has started! :)


Here’s a brief recap:

As we were landing, we hit massive turbulence. Drinks were flying, Chinese grandma’s throwing up, it was awful. Carrie got sick, but fortunately made it to the bathroom in time. And for those women who have had babies, you understand that bladder control is an issue. So not only did she throw up in an airplane toilet, but proceeded also to pee on herself and the floor. We then walked out to discover that three of our bags were missing. Out of the 16 check-ins, the three bags that were missing were the ones with our clothes. Carrie, having just peed on herself was not so excited about the prospect of wearing the same clothes for the next week.

Well, we loaded in the one van and one car that came to pick us up and headed to our city. Selah and Daddy in the front seat with the luggage and Carrie, Malachi and Charis in the car. We all gave in to fatigue and slept most of the three hour trip. We got to our city around 8:30. Some friends were there to greet us and give us some snacks that ended up being dinner.

We actually slept amazingly and were ready for breakfast by 6 am. We’ll do the apartment search today and meet our friends Iris and Dawson for lunch.

We made it!

I'm always amazed at how the Lord sends us traveling mercies through wonderful people going to the same place. We met a flight attendant who was writing a book on purity who wants to interview Brad and I. She feels strongly convicted that she is to get girls to understand the importance of waiting for their wedding day. Then in Philly we met a woman who teaches Sunday school. She watched our things as we walked around and then we had a wonderful conversation about the Lord and were able to mutually encourage one another. She was on her way to visit her grandkids in Vermont. Then we sat by a woman and her daughter on the plan and they both endured the screaming and entertained our kids. Amazing. Every trip we take, I start to get anxious and EVERY time traveling angels are provided.

We've sat by a nursery worker who felt led to put new girls clothes in her carry on's that just so happen to fit Selah-2 at the time. We've sat by a Vietnamese man who spent 21 years in a Japanese prison camp. The list goes on. God is good.

The Urinal Incident

So we found out yesterday from a friend that our son has been practicing personal hygeine in the bathroom. On the surface, this sounds like a great thing. Unless of course it means sticking your head in the urinal and flushing so that he can shower. Malachi discovered this was a quick and efficient way of cleaning up.

Brief Update of March

So I realized that it's been a month since we last posted. We've been having a great time in VA, just really busy. But we've only got a week and a half until we return to the promise land...Texas. The kids are doing great, but it will be hard to pull them from their friends, yet again, so that we can move overseas.

Selah-did a great job in kindergarten here. She has become quite the prayer warrior and loves to do sign language to the songs she's learning. The motions usually turn into more of an interpretive dance.

Malachi-he has become the clown of the community. The picture I posted of him with his black shirt summarizes it all. He loves to tell Bible stories. He's stuck on Jonah right now where the whale sneezes Jonah out into a boat. He then tells the Ninevites to ask for forgiveness because they are using words like "butt" and "stupid". The audacity.

Charis-not yet walking out of sheer stubborness. She'll stand and take a few steps and then sit down and crawl. She loves to babble as if she's right in the middle of everyone's conversations.

Brad and Carrie-tired, but well. We're ready to get going. Carrie is still pregnant (i'm sure you are beginning to think we need another hobby other than breeding). Brad is enjoying his time with the kids and in fellowship with people of like minds.

Parenting: Law or Grace? No!

As I reflected on Galatians 3 and Romans recently, especially the beginning of Rom. 7 and into 8, I've discovered some helpful thoughts on parenting. Those who have read books like "Shepherding a Child's Heart" will recognize such wisdom.

Commands or rules will never transform our kids (= make them like Jesus), yet ironically they are essential! They are necessary but not sufficient for godliness, theirs and ours. Their hearts (and ours) must be instructed otherwise our rules will only arouse their sinful nature. We cannot choose between law and grace, forging a false wall between rules and heart teaching; the gospel never does that; in fact Paul is rather emphatic that the law is good and instructive though it is powerless by itself.

By examining the gospel, our parenting must be radically affected.

Gone for a few

We probably won't blog for a few weeks. We are getting some job training for the next 8 weeks and are busy beyond belief. Our sweet Charis had her 1 year old birthday last week, so we will try and get some things posted from that shindig, but no promises. Thanks for your thoughts for our family.

1 or 2 lies from Satan

John Piper recently made a good point about understanding Satan's strategies:

He's got one lie, that he says in 2 ways. (1) God is bad. (2) Sin is better.
No matter what test or temptation we face, we will hear one of those lies in some form.

"God is not faithful or wise" or "That computer or food will satisfy you more than..."

In a word, the lies goes like this: "Sin will satisfy you more than God".

Both God and Satan make promises, but in every part of life, we choose whom we think will be more satisfying and whether we believe one or the other. When you look at it that way, many of the gray areas become less so.

Enduring Tribulation... and Sin?

Enduring tribulation is inevitable. That's a promise repeated ad naseum from Scripture; However, what is not inevitable is long enduring personal sin and joylessness. We sometimes treat these as if they were the same thing and God had promised them both.

NO!

We may not yet be perfected, but never has God promised that we would nor should gravel in the filth of sinful living, destitute from the hope of joy. Quite the contrary actually, as Paul and Silas demonstrate when singing amid the injustice of a prison sentence.

Yet if we believe that those 2 things are the same, our efforts to persevere in godliness will soon seem futile. Our discouragement will fulfill our errant expectations.

#4

Just wanted to let the world know that we are about 6 weeks pregnant! And yes, it was planned. We think this is it, but you never really can be sure. I'm feeling pretty miserable, which is standard operating procedure for my first trimester.

We leave our sweet house by the airport to attend training on Monday. I will be sick for half of training, but will hopefully feel better by the time we have to fly overseas.

We had some friends visit us this last week....I'll post some pictures and stories later.

The Fun of Being a Christian Parent

We had seminary in our house last night. It was a fun suprise to us. As we were coming home, Malachi asked why Jesus had to die. Selah asked 2 questions. "Did God make some people so that they don't love Him?" Second, "If God wants all people to love Him, why didn't he make all people to love Him?"

Many adults aren't curious or sensitive enough to ask these questions so it is espeically refreshing and challenging to see 2 young kids explore the wonderment of God's sovereign grace!

Arbitray Parent Rule #131

Ok, so Malachi likes to run around the house with his pants off. Typical male, I know. Anyway, the other day he runs up to Selah (without his pants on), turns his rear to her and declares ,"Booty fight! Booty fight!"

Now, we have had to inact APR #131, "No booty fights!"

Will Power

One thing will-power has never changed---my will.

Quirks

So I've realized of late that I, Carrie, am really quirky. As I get older, the more I seem to want things just so. I'm becoming the grandmother that alway frustrated me because she just couldn't adjust quickly. For instance:

My coffee has to be really hot or I can't drink it.

I always leave about an inch left of every drink I get. The cold ones get too warm and the warms ones too cold, so I give up on them before I'm finished.

Pillows must be flat.

Chips and Salsa must be accompanied by lime.

I can't handle when one instrument in a band is out of tune.

Hair that is one shade off of normal coloring is a complete distraction to me.

I love peeling the skin off of a sunburn (mine or anyone else's).

Hamburgers and pizza have to be eaten with a diet coke.

I have to wear flip flops in the house.

When I wake up at night I have to see what time it is. I'll even get out of bed to turn the clock if need be.


These are just a few of the many. As I continue to realize this aspect of myself, I continue on the humiliating blogging experience of self-disclosure. I'm starting to feel like Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally," where she orders the pie with no ice cream......

Lone Star Christmas

Here's a few pics from Christmas. I was so glad to get to spend some time in TX with my family. We didn't tell many people we were in town b/c my grandmother is really sick and we wanted to be around The Woodlands to spend time with her.

My parents poor house goes from quaint and quiet to tornadic activity when we arrive. My sis and her family also spent the week with us in my parents house. So there were 6 adults and 5 kids ages 5, 3, 3, 1 and 4 months.

We did Karaoke, played games and spend a little time in the spa. It was rough. :) It was a really nice visit because we weren't running around like crazy. I really valued my time with my sister as it seems we get less and less of it these days. She's an amazing photographer and it was fun for me to get to watch and learn.

Malachi's 3rd birthday

So we decided to celebrate Malachi's 3rd birthday while we were in Texas with family and friends. If you have kids, you know that Chucky Cheese is sheer nirvana. So off we went with our Batman balloons and cookie cake in tow.

Lots of family and friends came and ate pizza, played skee ball and danced with Chucky. He gots lots of fun presents, including CARS pajamas saying "I am Speed". We laughed at those because Malachi's nick name is "west coast," because he's totally content with taking his time with pretty much everything in life.

Everyone pulled their tickets together and he got pencils, a Batman picture frame, some stickers and various other ridiculously overpriced trinkets.

We had a blast celebrating our buddy!!!

Arbitrary Parent Rules: Malachi specific

We've realized that most of our arbitrary parent rules are directed towards our loving almost 3 years old little "cute guy"-as he calls himself.

1. You cannot sit on your sister's head.

2. You have to open your eyes when you are pretending to sleep run. (This one unfortunately was learned by way of 5-6 stitiches)

3. You must put on pants before going ANYWHERE.

4. You cannot put your "private bathroom parts" (as Selah calls it) on your sister's leapster game.

Going "New England" on people

So we've been in New England for two years total. We never really considered ourselves southerners but now having been baptized in yankeeness, we are proud of the roots from which we grew. The pride comes in southerners for the most part being kind, hospitable, and just generally friendly. We have now dubbed a new word in our house and it's called "going New England" on someone. Just the other day we were selling our bed to this slick yankee who just returned from the Donald Trump seminar on getting rich quick. Because everyone knows that Donald Trump got rich by sipping cheap coffee at some seminar in a hotel conference room.

Anyway, he was a jerk and I found myself being really unsanctified in my speech towards him. I was having to "go New England" on him. What does that mean exactly?! It means being incredibly rude, brash, sarcastic and demeaning. But if you aren't this way to most people up here then you'll get run over and taken advantage of.

In all fairness, we've met some wonderful New Englanders. But it's funny because they're usually a transplant from the midwest or a Christian. I've been praying for a nicer heart towards them and for gentler words, but it seems like I'm going the opposite direction with this. Well, we've got 1 1/2 weeks left. Thank goodness for my soul :)

Thanksgiving in NYC

This is us at the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade. We woke up on Tuesday and decided to head to New York for Thaksgiving. So we canceled our plans with friends and froze the turkey and off we went. We checked out the balloons being inflated on Wed. night and then went to dinner with our friend Julie, whose apartment we stayed in for the night.

Malachi and Brad with Scooby at the Wed. night inflation.

The kids thought the balloons were so great and even bigger than our apartment!

So it rained ALL day on Thursday! We got there at 8:45, which was about 3 hours later than the people directly in front of us. And then the people around us saw that the kids were with us and they let Brad, Selah and Malachi up to the FRONT row in Times Square. The parade started at 9 am with clowns, bands and the huge balloons. The kids really liked the princesses, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob and the Sesame Street float.
Here's our view of the parade. We had the best seats in the house, except for the hooked up kids sitting warm and dry in the MTV studios directly across from us.

We then trekked through soggy NYC to FAO Schwartz. This is a great toy store. It's the one with the big piano from the movie BIG with Tom Hanks. The kids got to play on the piano, work thomas trains, hang with life size lego creatures and gaze admiringly at all the toys. Malachi is really into Batman for the moment. So here we are with a lego life size replica.

Because it rained most of the day, Charis' view was of the plastic covering over her stroller. So this picture is simply for the record books. But here she is in FAO with Brad.

men, sweat pants, and the 'y'

We took the kids to open gym at the YMCA today and I have officially decided that sweat pants should be banned on any male over the age of 5. Men up here in Mass. love to wear them and I just feel embarrased by even looking their way. And it seems that the same me who wear them also put an arbitrary "y" on the end of their name, even if it wasn't there on their birth certificate. There's never just a Mike or a Joe or a Tim, it's always Mikey, Joey and Timmy. And they're always wearing sweat pants at the Y.

"The New Faces of Christianity"

If you want a great read, which informs us about the state of global Christianity and how the movement of Christianity from the Global North (the West) to the Global South (Asia, Africa, South America), I must insist that you read Philip Jenkins' new book "The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South". He is the writer who was widely acclaimed by all authorities for his 2002 book, "The Next Christendom", where he traces the Church's movement "south".

In this book, he examines how this reality of the Churches exodus from the West ("the Global North") has affected the way that the Church is reading the Bible, for both better and worse.

Very engaging. Very constructive to our own walks. Helpful in prayer.
It's a great encouragement for us, that we would grow in understanding how to read the Bible in our context and how easily we can make ourselves irrelevant as Western Christians if we are not careful. It challenges us too to seek what Christianity should look like in the West.

Princess Party Extravaganza!

We now have a 5 year old in our midst! We had a great time at the "Royal Birthday Ball." There were games of treasure hunts and an apple version of hot potato (taken from Snow White...except nobody died). Brad and I conquered the castle cake. The kids all dressed up in prince and princess outfits and looked fabulous. Our Texas friends would be proud because we introduced our non-southern friends and their colons to the wonderfully processed dish of 'queso'.

Selah got some wonderful gifts almost all having to do with the princess' from Disney. She was beyond excited and bubbling over all day.

Selah's 5th Birthday

Selah's birthday has become the event of the century. She keeps saying that it's going to be the best day EVER! We're going to have a prince and princess party with games and a cake and lots of noise. I'm going to attempt a princess castle cake. I'm prone to starting huge projects and never finishing them or figuring out that there's NO way possible that I can conquer the project at hand. So think of me on Sunday as I'm stacking cakes and wrestling with icing. I'll send pictures next week of the much anticipated occasion.

Happy today by thinking about tomorrow?

That which will satisfy us the most in the future will most fixate us in the present, to enjoy what is today.

By contrast, what is illusory, promising what it cannot deliver, never satisfying as I hope, will inevitably force my eyes forward to the future, for I intuitively know the fragility of its claims, the insecurity of all hope vested in it, whether my child's education or safety, a job advancement, retirement, or whatever else. As a result, I leave today and live tomorrow.

In effect, I'm as good as dead, for living people walk around today; tomorrow doesn't exist; yesterday is no more.

This is the power of Christ: as I gladly expect his future return, the coming vindication of his people, I can rest at ease and with joy today!

The Prostitutes and the Wife

The greatest temptresses I may face are named "tomorrow" and "someday". These are the loose women of Proverbs, making many promises yet allusive, all the while robbing me of wisdom and vitality. May we always remember the wife of our youth, who remains faithfully by our side, described in Proverbs 31. Her name is "Today".